App Watch: Unlock and Warm Up Your Car With Your iPhone

As the temperature drops, some cold-weather commuters are trying out an iPhone app that lets them climb in to an unlocked, pre-heated car.

Directed Electronics

SmartStart, an iPhone app made by car-security firm Directed Electronics, allows users to lock, unlock or start their cars from their phones.

Directed Electronics, the company that sells the Viper car-alarm system, has developed an accompanying app called SmartStart that lets customers use their phone to lock or unlock the car, or turn the alarm on and off.

“There’s so many apps that are neat but don’t necessarily bring much more utility to the user,” said Kevin Duffy, president of Directed. “This really makes your life better.”

They can also press a button to start it — something customers like because they can avoid a chilly ride this way, he said — open the trunk, or press a panic button that makes the headlights flash and sounds the horn. The panic button doubles as a car finder in crowded parking lots and has been known to be used as a wake-up call as well, he said.

For several years, the company has sold key fobs that can start customers’ cars as far away as two miles, but buildings can interfere with its range, he said. The iPhone app, which also works on Apple iPod touch, is so much more robust that he’s used it from New York to unlock his wife’s car in California when she accidentally locked her keys inside, he said.

SmartStart has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since it was introduced on the App Store in mid-October, Mr. Duffy said. It is free but doesn’t work on your car unless it has Viper’s system installed, which costs $300 to $500, plus a service agreement. Best Buy, and eventually other electronics retailers, sell the system, he said.

The company is working on additional features, such as alerts when the alarm activates or if the car doesn’t start, down the road, he said.